Questioning Reality
by lnex
Summary: What if reality was a novel? What if Harvest Moon characters appeared in your world, claiming they were in a book? This is the story of a normal high school invaded by the "real" people.
1. Chapter 1

**I wrote this story for the fun of it, but a friend suggested that I upload it here. Anyway, enjoy!**

I was staring into space when a girl appeared. I blinked, but she didn't disappear. Now, I don't mean 'walked in' or 'magically teleported with lots of special effects'. In the time of an instant, a girl occupied the formerly empty space I was staring at. She looked confused for a second before walking in our direction.

Naturally, I ignored her and kept talking, er, listening. It was during lunchtime at Lincoln, and the school never gave us enough time to both eat and talk. Besides Emily, Rayne and I, the table was mostly empty. Anna had left her lunchbox, and we assumed she'd be back. My friends were trying to recall every question on the math test last period and calculate their grades.

"I need at least a 77.2 on this text to get an A," Rayne said, putting away her calculator. "That means that if I missed numbers 3 and 19, I can only miss one more. Emily, did you get C on number 23?"

Emily tried to respond, but the strange girl came from behind and hugged her. Emily turned around, a strange expression on her face. "Do I know you?" she asked.

Up close, the girl couldn't have been in high school yet. Though I'm terrible at guessing ages, I assumed she was in middle school. She had straight brown hair and wore a T-shirt advertising a team I'd never heard of.

"Yeah, I guess not," the girl said, her face turning red. "But don't worry," she turned to Rayne. "You get like a B on the test and an A in math. It never said the exact numbers, though." She stared at our lunch table. "Wow, you guys don't look anything like I pictured."

By then we had been thoroughly weirded out. Trying to return to normality, I said to Rayne, "Nice! You can stop worrying now that you're going to get an A."

The girl looked at her shoes and mumbled, "So that's what she meant by not interfering with the story." She recovered quickly and stared at us once again. "Can I sit down? Darn, I forgot lunch," She took the seat next to me, which had been open since Sarah left. "Hey Rayne, can I have some of your chocolate muffin?"

Now it was Rayne's turn to give her a weird look. She reached into her lunchbox and pulled out the muffin. "You guys can share." The new girl gave her an excited look and stuffed a piece in her mouth.

Anna chose that moment to return to the lunch table. She looked at us and mouthed 'who's she?'. When we collectively shrugged, Anna asked the girl "Who the heck are you?"

The girl didn't seem fazed. "I'm Chelsea." I tried not to laugh. "You're Anna, right?" She held out the muffin. "Want some?"

As the rest of us tried to process this, Chelsea tried to make conversation. "How are your IB exams going?" We looked at her quizzically. "Wait, that's like the 4th book. Sorry." She visibly struggled for another topic. "Um…"

As if to put an end to the strangeness, the intercom crackled to life. "Students, put your trash, trays, and garbage into the compactor and have a nice day."

Chelsea reached to take Emily's tray for her. We fled the cafeteria, leaving Chelsea behind.

"Ok, that was strange," Rayne pointed out the obvious once we had left the cafeteria. "It's like the reverse of my story," she turned to Emily. "Which you should read."

Emily glanced behind us to make sure we hadn't been followed. "Sure, I will. But who _is_ she?"

We speculated for the rest of the walk about what she meant by the '4th book', where she came from, and why we should care.


	2. Chapter 2

Homeroom went by normally, but as I arrived at my study hall, Chelsea was sitting at my desk. "Hello!" she said, oblivious to my discomfort. "Your psych teacher won't check homework today, I'm pretty sure, so we can talk." Chelsea grinned. "This is so cool!"

I tried to pull _The Death of a Salesman_ out of my backpack, but Chelsea grabbed it. What is with people and stealing my book? Admittedly it wasn't mine, it was a teacher's, but that just makes it worse. "Okaaay…" The girl seemed to know all about me, but I didn't know a thing about her. "Um, where are you from?" I asked.

"Can't tell, author's orders," Chelsea said.

Author's orders? Maybe Rayne was right and this _was _a reverse of her story. "Can you say who the author is?"

"I don't think so," the girl replied after some thought. "Like, I don't think she exists in your world anyway."

"Well then." I considered another line of thinking. "Who's the main character of this book?" I tried not to sound sarcastic.

While Chelsea thought about whether she could tell me, I stole back my book and started reading. When I next looked up, Chelsea appeared to be having a quiet conversation with herself, or maybe with the magical 'author' voice in her head.

"I knew you'd do that, by the way," Chelsea said, snatching the book back. "I can tell you. The author is pretty cool and she, like, switches character every chapter. You should read it." I gave her a funny look and Chelsea realized the absurdity of the thought. "Um, it's a cool book at least."

I struggled to wrap my mind around the thought. Somebody in this world thinks I'm a character in a book. How awesome, and weird, is that? "So. I'm guessing you can't tell me the ending?"

Chelsea shook her head and I continued. "Does that mean you know _everything_? Past, present, and future?"

"Like… I think." Chelsea looked around the classroom. Thankfully, Mr. Brown was teaching a small group of freshmen and couldn't eavesdrop. The rest of the class was either talking or sleeping. "Ok, not everything. Only what the books say. Like, she didn't say that some people actually did work in a study hall," she gestured to a group of seniors intent on finishing their math projects.

"And what if I said I didn't believe you?" I laughed. The idea was just too strange to believe. "If you know everything, tell me, um…" I tried to think of something nobody else would know. "My computer password."

Chelsea looked at me funny. "Why would I know that?" she glanced at the ceiling like she thought it might help. "When's the last time a book said somebody's password, anyway?" She suddenly grinned. "I can tell you what you're thinking!"

I tried not to look at her, but Chelsea continued. "You're thinking that I won't be able to guess what you're thinking." She laughed, and I tried to snatch my book back.

"No really," I said sarcastically. What would she say next—that I'm human and wear glasses?

Chelsea thought for a moment, staring at the ceiling. "Ok, if you don't believe me…" She looked at me while I reached for my book again. "Your middle name is Marjorie."

I grabbed _The Death of a Salesman_ and stuffed it in my backpack before she noticed. As for my middle name, anybody could find it by looking at official school papers.

Chelsea went on. "You say 'beep' instead of cursing, which might be author censorship, your favorite book is _Homecoming_, your bike helmet is blue, you have a crush on a guy in math class, you always have a lucky rock in your pocket, and…" She giggled. "And you're thinking of a purple dancing hippo for some reason."

"Woah," I said. Ok, that was _creepy_. She could have asked people my favorite book; I probably said 'beep' during this conversation, but my bike helmet? The only part she got wrong was the purple dancing hippo. It was an elephant, but I think I forgot to imagine the trunk.

When I finished thinking, I looked up. Chelsea was staring at me again. She giggled and said, "Oh yeah. In like a week you'll write about this, but you'll forget to edit out that I know who you like and it'll lead to an awkward Facebook conversation."

I thought about that until my head hurt. If I wrote about this conversation, did that mean I would write about writing this conversation? But that would lead to me writing about writing about writing about this conversation… And if I did that a few more times… ouch. More to the point: "wait a second. Now that I know what I'm going to do, I'll just remember to change that part."

Chelsea shrugged. "Nah, you'll do it anyway." She moved to get up from the desk. "Where's Mr. Ward's room? He's my favorite villain in the series."

When I gave her directions, she left the room. That's when I knew she was telling the truth: who in this world would want to meet Mr. Ward?

* * *

After that, a week passed without Chelsea appearing, which I was fine with. Unless she wanted to tell us the ending to the book, I'd be happy never talking to her again. There's something inherently creepy about a person who knows your life story as well as you do.

After a few days, the conversations at the lunch table turned from "Who was that Chelsea girl?" to "Who actually studied for the history test?" Apparently Chelsea had invaded Philosophy class after she left my study hall, and tried to argue that we're all stuck in a book. I have to wonder how that worked for her.

Admittedly, I was still stuck on the fact that people could travel inside of books. I mean, how awesome would that be? I would see the battle room from _Ender's Game_, and rescue some dogs before they die in books by cruel kid's authors (thankfully most authors don't kill cats). Maybe I could also get into the _Percy Jackson_ books and bring back Percy for Rayne. And that's not even counting the amount of cool technology I could find…

"Woah," I flinched as Chelsea materialized directly in front of me, knocking me out of my daydream. Did nobody else even notice her appearance? I was in the middle of first period Spanish, and everybody else was intently faking their assignments.

"Hiya!" Chelsea seemed amused by my reaction. "By the way, the author told me I already, like, ruined the story and I can do whatever I want now." She looked up, as for confirmation. "Like, I already messed with the infinite continuity structure and, like, made a triple alternate derivation universe here."

When Chelsea saw my face, she attempted to explain further, using more multisyllabic words than I could understand. Apparently kids in her universe learn how to invade books while we were still learning nouns.

I took the time to consider the possibilities. "Wait, you can do anything now, right?" I waited for Chelsea to nod. "And you can still travel in between books, right?"

Chelsea nodded again, slowly. I doubt she saw where I was going. I continued. "Awesome! Could I visit a few books?" My mind raced at the possibilities: first I'd go to the Pokemon world to bring back a few pokemon. I know it isn't a book, but I could probably enter a fanfiction or something. Then I'd save the poor dog in _Where the Red Fern Grows, _and _A Dog Called Kitty_, and probably the cat in _A Mango-Shaped Space_. Maybe then I could meet Dicey from _Homecoming_.

Chelsea looked down. "Um, I kinda can't do that. Everybody knows that people in books can't travel." She suddenly looked me in the eye. "I can bring somebody from a book here, though." Chelsea smiled. "Just a sec!"

Just as suddenly as she appeared, Chelsea poofed.


	3. Chapter 3

I kept checking behind me the rest of Spanish class, paranoid that Chelsea and a random stranger would appear behind me the second I stopped looking. Even Mr. Ward noticed and asked me something incomprehensible in Spanish, probably about the work I wasn't BSing.

I didn't stop thinking about Chelsea until math class, where the sight of the teacher passing out tests drove all other concerns from my mind. Normally, with calculator tricks and guessing "C" for all the multiple choice questions, I can do pretty well. Problem was that I didn't know we even had a test, much less what the test was on. As soon as I started circling the first answer (C, of course), something made me turn around.

The second I forgot about her, Chelsea had appeared in the middle of the classroom. This time, she wasn't alone. The guy next to her had black hair and was wearing what looked like a school uniform. I ignored both of them to work on the math test, hoping that Chelsea would get the hint.

Naturally, Chelsea walked right over to us. "Hi! We'll see you at lunch. Good luck with the test," she whispered loudly. At this point, I wasn't sure if people were just pretending not to notice her entrances. I mean, teleporting in the middle of a math test? People get distracted by far less.

For once, we got to lunch on time. The second we left the classroom, I had to ask. "Ok, anybody know the guy that Chelsea brought?"

Rayne was blushing. "How do you not know who he is?" Emily and I looked at each other and shrugged, making Rayne continue. "Touma? C'mon, you've seen A Certain Magical Index!"

Emily hadn't seen it, so I explained. "It's that anime that Rayne keeps bugging you to watch." I laughed. "She loves the main character, Touma."

"Ooh," she said. She turned to Rayne. "Did you ask Chelsea to bring him here?"

Rayne nodded and changed the subject. "Who'd you ask Chelsea to bring?"

When we walked to our table in the lunchroom, Touma was sitting in Rayne's seat, but Chelsea was nowhere to be found.

* * *

The next day, I had English first period. Now, I normally like English, but this year's English teacher is as scary as she is mean. The teacher once lectured a girl for mumbling, and when the girl started to cry, Mrs. Ring yelled at her for crying.

To continue with the pattern of impossible tests, we had a vocab test. And naturally, as soon as the tests were handed out, Chelsea popped up once more. This time she was holding hands with a skinny blond girl, and a tall guy with dark hair, wearing a black hoodie. Chelsea, predictable as always, spotted me and waved.

The English teacher looked up from her desk and motioned to the three newcomers. Chelsea and the other two walked over to the desk. Mrs. Ring frowned and whispered loudly, "The students are taking a vocab test. I don't know which teacher sent you, but this is my classroom and I will not tolerate disruptions."

Chelsea started to apologize to the teacher, but the blond girl cut her off. "You don't know we're here." The girl had a sweet, hypnotic voice. "You'll forget about us. Also, you want to give us the candy you have under your desk."

Mrs. Ring reached under her desk and took out a jar of Hershey's kisses. The girl picked up the whole jar and led Chelsea and the guy out of the room.

When the door closed behind them, our class turned to stare at Mrs. Ring. But she just gave us her usual glare and said, "I want to see you all working."

Well _that_ was strange. Who knew that Mrs. Ring kept candy? And besides that, who did Chelsea bring, anyway? I ran through videogame and book characters in my head. The girl had powers, that much was obvious. But they were wearing normal clothes, which meant that they came from a realistic setting. Hmm.

Then I got it. But if Chelsea was bringing only the characters we wanted her to meet, why the heck did she bring Angel?


End file.
